Food for Thought Report 5.25

Last week all we had to serve was good news, in this edition of Food for Thought, it's a plate full of bad news. We have four low performers with a grand total of 21 critical violations - including an eight-time top performer who found itself on the low performing list for the first time ever.

Here is a complete list of the restaurants and their violations for the week ending on 5/25/05.

We begin at Tastee Burger at 2434 Clovis Road. Their walls are adorned with eight top performing plaques and that's why owner Irene Reyna was baffled when inspectors found four critical violations.

Chili at 44 degrees. It must be 41 degrees or colder. "All along we thought it was suppose to be 45," Reyna said.

An employee did not wash hands after handling raw hamburger patties. "She comes over here and opens this (refrigerator), and because we grab this (handle) and pull out the patty like this and throw on the grills (we have to wash our hands). Which is hard when you're busy at lunch rush," Reyna said. "We know if we touch the meat without gloves we have to wash our hands," Reyna said.

An employee's drink was on a counter with clean dishes. "We know they're suppose to have lids and straws. A girl threw her drink out and left the cup back there without it so we got written up," Reyna said.

Mold and mildew was found on the deflectors inside the ice machine.

Irene says they work hard to keep their restaurant clean and orderly, and the next time we see her it will be to hand her yet another top performing plaque.

Our next low performer is Burger King at 313 University with five critical violations.

Milk was found at 45 degrees. Cold foods must be kept 41 degrees or colder.

Ice was dumped in a hand sink. Hand sinks are for hand washing only.

There were no paper towels in the dispenser at the hand wash sink in the food prep area.

Toxic cleaners were stored in a box with tray liners.

Soiled and broken plastic containers were stored with clean containers.

NewsChannel 11 contacted management at Burger King, they did not want to comment on the violations. The report shows most inspections were corrected on site.

Management at Subway told us, "We had a lot of new employees training at the time of the inspection. All have since been trained and are on top of their game. All violations were corrected on site." The report shows that as well.

Rosa's Cafe at 5103 82nd Street had seven critical violations.

Uncooked cheese enchiladas were found stored on a shelf at 75 degrees. They must be 41 degrees or colder.

Tamales were found at 115 degrees. They must be 140 degrees or hotter.

Inspectors found moldy chilies in a container.

Soiled wiping clothes were found throughout the kitchen on food contact surfaces.

A reach in cooler was found holding ready to eat, potentially hazardous food products at 52 degrees.

A spray bottle containing an unknown solution was found without a label and other cleaning supplies were found by cup lids and other to-go containers.

A knife on the food prep counter was found soiled.

Rosa's management says, "All violations were corrected on site." The report shows that as well.